Flexible cover for belt conveyers



juiy 7, 1953 s. M. MERCZIER FLEXIBLE COVER FOR BELT CONVEYERS Filed Feb.21, 1950 //v VEN TOR; STANLEY M. MERCIEE.

Patented July 7, 1953 FLEXIBLE COVER FOR BELT CONVEYERS Stanley M.Mercier," Bexley, Ohio, assignor to The J eflrey Manufacturing Company,a corporation of Ohio Application February'ZI, 1950, Serial No. 145,5044 Claims. (Cl. 198-228) This invention relates to a belt conveyer and anobject of the invention is to provide such a conveyer with cover meansto protect particularly material carried on the upper run thereof irombeing blown away by wind or from becoming'wet during rain, and generallyto afford protection to said material and the belt and including aflexible hood or cover adjacent the head or discharge pulley' which maybe opened or thrown back to afiord access at this position.

Other objects of the invention will appear hereinafter, the novelfeatures and combinations being set forth in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of the head section of a trailingconveyer which incorporates the features of my invention; i

Fig. 2 is an enlarged side elevational view showing particularly theflexible hinged cover and associated protecting means adjacent the headshaft of the conveyer; and

Fig. 3 is a detailed sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2,looking in the direction of the arrows.

In Fig. 1 of the drawings there is illustrated a head section III of atrailing conveyer portion of a stacking system which incorporates thefeatures of my invention. Certain features of the head section I aredisclosed more in detail .in

my co-pending application, Serial No. 145,501,

entitled Conveyer Apparatus, Including a Portable Stacker and ConnectedPortable Trailing Conveyer, filed February 21, 1950, and in myapplication, Serial No. 145,503, entitled Belt Conveyer Head Section ofa Stacking System, filed February 21, 1950. I

The headsection I0 includes an elongated generally horizontallyextending frame II mounted on four power driven crawlers I2, two at thefront and two at the rear, on opposite sides, by which the head sectionI0 is propelled and steered. Mounted on the frame II is an endless beltconveyer including a belt I3 carried on spaced troughing idlers I4.Thebelt I3 extends around a head pulley or drum I5 carried at the frontof the frame I I and is driven by a plurality of drive pulleys I6.

Stacker systems of th type involving a head section, such as that'illustrated,are generally employed out of doors where they are subjectto the elements, including wind, rain, snow and the like, andconsequently it is desirable to protect the material being conveyed, aswell as the belt I3, from such elements. To this end, the belt I3 andparticularly the upper load carrying run thereof together with thematerial thereon is preferably protected by cover means which, as shownin the illustrated embodiment of my invention, includes a relativelystationary cover II carried by the fram II which may be made up of aplurality of overlapping segments of corrugated sheet metal bentsemi-cylindrical and placed over the upper run of the belt I3, with thebottom edges rigidly attached to the frame I I.

Forward of the head pulley or drum I5 is a hopper or shield I8 bent in ageneral U-shape, with two sides of the U on opposite sidesof the drum orpulley I5 and rigidly attached to the frame II. The shield or hopper I8extends upwardly and has an open bottom extending into a turntableconstruction I9 disclosed in detail and claimed in my application,Serial No. 145,501, above identified.

The shield I8 carries an adjustable stone box 20 which is a generallyV-shaped upwardly extending member having a material supporting bottomwhich extends to a transverse square rod 2I at its rear portion, saidbox being adjustably carried inside the shield I8 and being adjustableforwardly and rearwardly by machine screws cooperating with elongatedslots 22, the forward and rearward adjustment being provided by nut andbolt adjusting means 23.

Material discharged over the head pulley I5 will be received, at leastin part, in the stone box 20 where the material will build up, assuggested by the dotted lines 24, which acts as a cushion to receivelarge stones discharged over the pulley I5 and to take some of the shockthereof to reduce damage and wear which otherwise might be caused to theshield or hop-per I8 or other parts of the complete system.

Adjacent the forwardmost portion of the stationary cover I! there is anarched canopy 25, preferably of metal, such as sheet steel, which isattached to the frame I I and which extends into and has overlappingrelation with a hinged flexible cover 26 which, in general, follows theconfiguration and construction of the well-known baby buggy or flexibletop of an old style automobile or buggy. That is, the cover 26 has agenerally arched top piece 21 which is transversely horizontal,terminating in a pair of generally upright side curtains, one of whichis seen at 28, said flexible cover being made of canvas or any similaror desirable flexible material.

The cover 26 is supported on a plurality of U-shaped hinged ribs 29, theopposite free ends of which are pivotally attached to a bracket of theframe II on transverse horizontal axes, there To hold the cover 26 downin its protectingposition the forward corners of the cover 26 arepreferably provided with tabs, one of which is seen at 3 I, with each ofwhich a hold-down spring and chain 32 cooperates, one end of said springand chain 32 being attached to a portion of the frame ll adjacent theshield 18, the other being removably attached to a tab 3|. the hold-downmeans 32 the removable cover 26 may be swung to its collapsed positionby swinging all of the ribs 29 rearwardly about their pivots so thataccess may be had to the interior of the shield IS.

A belt cleaning device 33 of generally standard construction is alsopreferably carried by the shield or hopper 1,8 and cooperates with thebelt I3 as it moves around the bottom of the head pulley l5.

Obviously those skilled in the art may make various changes in thedetails and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention as defined by the claims hereto appended, andapplicant therefore wishes not to be restricted to the preciseconstruction the head pulley to which the flexible cover extends.

2. In combination, an elongated stacker conveyer head section main frameand cover mech-v anism, said main frame being adapted to carry a pulleyat one end over which the discharge end of an endless conveyer istrained, an upright shield having an open top and bottom carried at theend of said main frame adjacent said pulley for covering and protectingmaterial discharged over said pulley by said endless conveyer, saidgenerally upright shield being rigidly mounted to the end of the mainframe, an inverted substantially U-shaped cover rigidly mounted uponsaid main frame and located to cover and protect material being conveyedtoward said head pulley by said conveyer, a rigid canopy rigidly carriedby said main frame-associated with said inverted U-shaped coverextending toward said pulley, a

collapsible cover extending from said canopyover By detaching 4collapsible cover including supporting rib means carried by said mainframe between said canopy and said shield, and disconnectable means forholding said collapsible cover in its pulley and shield coveringposition including tabs on said flexible cover and spring means actingbetween said tabs and main frame adjacent said shield.

3. In combination, an elongated stacker conveyer head section main frameand cover mechanism, said main frame being adapted to carry a .pulley atone end over which the discharge end of, an endless conveyer is trained,an upright shield having an open top and bottom carried at the endofsaid main frame adjacent said pulley for coveringand protectingmateriad discharged over said pulley by said endless conveyer, saidgenerally upright shield being rigidly mounted to the end of the mainframe, an inverted substantially U-shaped cover rigidly mounted uponsaid main frame and located to cover and protect material being conveyedtoward said head pulley by said conveyer, a rigid canopy rigidly carriedby said main frame associated with said inverted U-shaped coverextending toward said pulley, a collapsible cover extending from saidcanopy over said pulley and the top of said shield and having an edgeoverlapping the top of said shield, said collapsible cover includingsupporting rib means carried by said main frame between said canopy andsaid shield, and disconnectable means for holding said collapsible coverin its pulley and shield covering position.

4. In combination, an elongated stacker conveyer head section main frameand cover mechanism, said main frame being adapted to carry a pulley atone end over which the discharge end of an endless conveyer is trained,an upright shield having an open top and bottom carried at the end ofsaid main frame adjacent said pulley for covering and protectingmaterial discharged over said pulley by said endless conveyer, saidgenerally upright shield being rigidly mounted to the ,end of the mainframe, a rigid canopy rigidly carried by said main frame and located tocover and protect material being conveyed toward said pulleyv by saidconveyer, a collapsible cover extending from said canopy over saidpulley and the top of said shield and having an edge overlapping the topof said shield, said collapsible cover including supporting rib-meanscarried-by said main frame between said canopy and said shield, anddisconnectable means for holding said collapsible cover in its pulleyand shield covering position including tabs on said flexible cover andspring means acting between said tabs and main frame adjacent saidshield.

STANLEY M. MERCIER.

.. References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSNumber Name Date 278,470 Crawford et al. Mar. 6, 1883 381,025 ParmaleeApr. 10, 1888 464,530 States et a1. Dec. 8, 1891 1,261,179 Stuart Apr.2, 1918 1,446,124 Lichtenberg -1 Feb. 20, 1923 1,854,560 Owens et allApr. 19, 1932

